"The Bloody Chamber" is a short story by Angela Carter that is based on the fairy tale "Bluebeard." It is a more detailed account of the tale with a twist. The wife is still a young girl who becomes attracted to a wealthy mysterious man. She follows the tale of opening that one door he asked her not to and she also drops the key in the dead wives blood. This room is filled with torture equipment instead of only the bodies like in "Bluebeard." The husband presses the key on her forehead which leaves a red heart brand. As soon as he was about to kill her, the girl's mother rides in on a horse and shoots the husband dead. This story by Carter both upholds and subverts the female gender stereotypes. It upholds the patterns because they make the girl disobey orders like Eve did from the beginning. She is also subordinate since the husband thought he can punish her in anyway he thought necessary. The girl was not able to save herself, but instead waited on someone to come and rescue her. This is where the story subverts from the typical female stereotypes. It was not a prince, brother or the blind friend that saved the girl from her pending doom. It was her mother taking charge, riding a horse and carrying a gun. We see a strong female character that was described through out the story as defeating man eating beasts etc. Although the girl had to be saved, she was saved by another woman; which subverts and upholds the patterns of women in fairy tales.
The tale of "Bluebeard" is one that can scare and intrigue someone at the same time. Why is his beard blue? Why did he kill his wives? Why marry again and how did he get all of that money? These are some of the questions i think of when i read this fairy tale. Bluebeard is a wealthy and odd man who wanted to marry again. He gave his wife a set of keys and talked about one a little too much that she was not allowed to use. However, human curiosity kicked in and she could not help but run to open that mysterious door. She found the other dead wives and her husband caught her. The wife is then saved just in time by her brothers before Bluebeard beheads her. This is the version of "Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault that upholds the stereotypical role of females. The wife is a pretty souvenir for Bluebeard and she is awarded with anything she wants. They also try to show the woman as disobedient like with little red riding hood, Eve, and Pandora. Bluebeard got away with killing several of his wives and sees this as a suitable punishment for disobedience. The wife also upholds the typical gender roles since she had to be saved by her brothers. She did nothing to save herself but kept waiting for them to come and save her. The male rescue team and the wealthy reward for being pretty is a pattern present in many fairy tales.
There is a tale called "Molly Whuppie" by Joseph Jacobs that many might not know. Molly Whuppie is the youngest of her siblings and was left in the woods with two other sisters by her parents. It is similar to "Hansel & Gretel" because the family did not have enough food to feed the children and decided to abandon them. It is also similar to "Jack and the Beanstalk" because she steals from the evil giant and gets away. This tale differs from many because we have a female as the lead. "Molly Whuppie" subverts from the usual female stereotypical role of standing by the side while a male takes care of everything. She is not only a girl, but the youngest of her siblings. She was able to safely get them away from being killed by a giant. Then she was able to successfully marry her sisters and herself to princes. This required Molly to sneak into the giant's house three times to take treasures back to the king. This is a female character who took care of herself and others. The image of womanhood represented by Jacobs in this tale subverts expectations regarding the female gender because Molly Whuppie was an independent, strong female lead who took charge of what happened. There was no prince charming coming to her rescue; instead, Molly worked to make herself get to her happy ending along with her older sisters.
Based on this picture, we see two very hungry kids eating a house; a house that this gross looking lady lives inside of. "Hansel & Gretel" is a fairy tale about a family who does not have enough food to support the kids, so they are left in the forest. Hansel and Gretel stumble upon a house made of sweets, which is every child's dream. The witch that lives there lures children with her house and then eats them. Hansel and Gretel is a fairy tale that depicts the male and female stereotypes differently, depending on the author. In the version by the Grimm brothers, the women look worse than the men. The step-mother comes up with the plan to send the kids away. The witch wants to eat Hansel while making Gretel her slave. Also, Gretel played an insigificant role for the first half of the story. She only cried and whined; until the end where she actually saved them. The step-mother and witch dies while the father receives jewels.
Charles Perrault wrote a version of this fairy tale called "Little Thumb." In his fairy tale, the mother is the one who cries for her children while it was the father's plan to get rid of them. The evil giant who wants to devour the children is also male. The Grimm brothers continue the image of womanhood as either being a damsel in distress or completely evil.
Would you like to be in the company of wolves? Cute, furry animals that can also be vicious killers when hungry or threatened. Or what about men who are labeled after the vicious side of a wolf. Cunning, clever, beastly men who would love to take advantage of a pretty girl in her red hood. The excerpt from The Company of Wolves by Angela Carter subverts the usual female roles by letting the heroine take charge of her future. She does not act timid and let the male character determine what happens. By carrying her own knife and not being afraid of anything, this little red riding hood is an independent woman who takes care of herself. Even when the cannibal, nude man with lice threatens to eat little red, she laughs in his face as though it was the most ridiculous thing she ever heard. She makes the decision to kiss him and takes care of his creepy crawly bug problems. The story ends with her sleeping soundly in this man's arms. This is different from other tales where she is scared and does what he asks; or the wolf kills little red riding hood. Carter's little red riding hood subverts from the usual female depictions by doing things on her own and deciding what will happen next, which results in her not getting raped or eaten.
A little girl in a red hood, left in a room with a big hungry wolf. Obviously the situation seems doomed from the start. "Little Red Riding Hood" by the Grimm brothers is a version of this fairy tale where a little girl wearing a red hood goes into the woods and comes in contact with a hungry wolf. He eats her grandmother and then little red riding hood. It is until some huntsmen in the woods come across the wolf and cuts open his stomach that they are saved. Or at least this is the story that many of us know. This would be the picture on the left where the innocent little girl has no idea what is in store for her. This version upholds the image of womanhood since little red riding hood was not able to do anything; but instead had to rely on a man to save her.
"Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf" is another version of this fairy tale, written by Roald Dahl. This story subverts from the classical expectations regarding the female gender. When little red riding hood questioned the wolf, she knew he wasnt her grandmother and pulled out a pistol and shot him. After she killed the wolf, she made a wolf skin hood to show her prize; also perhaps to warn other wolves. This was a woman who took care of herself and did not have to rely on men for protection. She also went up against a male figure and took him down on her own. This story fits the picture on the right.
Almost every child knows the name Disney. Many of us grew up with his animations; which educated and entertained us throughout the years. Disney casted his own spell on fairy tales and animations which changed the original stories. Jack Zipes gives us a peek into the life of Disney, and how he affected fairy tales through his essay: "Breaking the Disney Spell." Zipes wrote that Disney tried to subvert from the image of women as being pretty ornaments who belong at home, waiting for the prince. He attempted this by creating films with mostly female heroines. Zipes also explained that Disney did not celebrate the female domestication like original versions. But i would say that Disney still up held these female gender norms through his animations. If we think about Cinderella and Snow White, they were both beautiful women who had to do a bunch of house chores. The beauty of these women also resulted in a happy ending where the prince usually comes to rescue them. The princesses are usually weak and refrain from bold actions. They are supposed to behave and cower under the evil villains until the prince's bravery frees them from their boring lives. It shows how strong gender norms can be since the image of women lasted from the original authors to a modern man like Disney. And since Disney is so widely spread, he is casting his spell on all of us.
